Symbolism
by HotdogInAPineappleWorld
Summary: Beast Boy just wants to know why she's called Raven. She doesn't really want to explain. BB/Rea Oneshot.
1. Chapter 1

_A little BB/Rae oneshot because I haven't done anything for TT yet and it was THE best cartoon on TV... Just sayin'._

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><p>"Hey Raven!" The green changeling greets cheerfully, hopping onto the sofa beside the empath who spares him a cold glance.<p>

"What do you want Beast Boy?" She questions suspiciously and he raises his hands innocently and grins crookedly at her.

"Nothing Rae, I just-" He starts.

"Don't call me Rae," Raven interrupts coldly.

"… Where'd you get your name from?" Beast Boy quips, the somewhat abrupt question baffles the purples haired half demon for a moment before she regains her composure and glares.

"It doesn't matter…" She mutters.

"Well I was just wondering 'cause do all the people in Azarath have names like yours? It's a pretty unique name and I just wanted know if you just got it or if-" The shape shifter cuts himself off as Raven stands and walks out the room, the door shwooping shut behind her and he frowns at where she was sat then looks to Cyborg in the kitchen area.

"What did I do?" He exclaims, throwing his hands up for emphasis and his friend looks to him.

"Well let's face it Green bean, you don't have to do much to get under her skin," He points out and Beast boy huffs indignantly and folds his arms with a pout.

"Whenever I try be nice and have a conversation with her, something like this happens…" He grumbles and Cyborg chuckles lightly to himself and flips over the egg in the frying pan.

"Hey BB! Ya' want an egg!" He teases.

"Not funny Cy!" Is the immediate retort. "Not funny at all!" …

Raven was being even more quiet and contemplative than usual… which was worrying. Robin wasn't getting anything from their bond, just deep thought; she was obviously trying to decide what to do. She eats without saying a word. Robin glances to Cyborg who gives a pointed look to Beast boy who in tern shrugs at Robins scowl. The atmosphere is unnerving and uncomfortable. Starfire is absent this evening, something about 'requiring an urgent visit to the mall of shopping' so her jovial and carefree aura isn't there to lighten the choking air.

"… I'm sorry?" Beast boy says eventually uncertainly with a hopeful smile and Raven looks to him with a confused frown.

"What for?" She asks and the green boy shrugs.

"I figured I did something to annoy you," He explains honestly and his purple haired friend looks away from him.

"No… you didn't do anything wrong Beast Boy," She tells him and he sighs softly in relief.

"What's up then Rae-…ven?" He returns, correcting himself just in time.

"Nice save," Raven replies and he snickers nervously. "… It's the question you asked… I don't like answering it."

"Great, so it is my fault..." Beast Boy sighs miserably and violet eyes meet grass green.

"No… You were curious… like you always are… That's not the problem. I didn't walk out because I was mad at you Garfield, I walked out because I was upset," The empath informs him before she looks down at her plate, keeping her expression carefully composed. It was no big secret that Raven didn't like talking about feelings, never mind admitting when she felt upset so she must feel it was pretty important.

"Oh… I'm sorry for bringing it up then. I wouldn't have asked if I'd have thought-" Beast Boy mumbles.

"Its fine," Raven tells him firmly. "… Look my name is Raven because… the actual birds are universal symbols for death, destruction, deceit, desolation and evil… Everything I'm meant to be or cause." Beast Boy gnaws on his lip with a fang at that as Robin and Cyborg remain silent; they're keeping out of this one, the changelings got to say something this time.

"I don't think you're any of that…" He says softly and Raven glances to him out the corner of her eye. "And you certainly don't cause it… Not on purpose…" He continues and he seems to grow increasingly determined with each word. "If that were you, you wouldn't be a Teen Titan, you wouldn't have stopped Trigon or saved that kid from that burning building the other day and you wouldn't have gone to check she was okay after… I don't think that's what you're called Raven for. I reckon you're called that because you're a mystery, because you're smart, you heal and protect… I'm pretty sure that raven's aren't bad things everywhere and I think even if you have some of Trigon in you, that you weren't named because of that but because of all the good things you could do, because the other stuff is more important than if you're half demon or not…" He explains, sounding like he believes every single word. "Ravens are… unique and special…" He concludes and he grins at Raven who smiles at him slightly.

"Thank you Beast Boy," She says sincerely.

"No problem. You shouldn't focus on the bad parts when really there's a lot of good too," Her companion beams at her.

"I suppose there is…" Raven agrees softly and they both eat in a pleasant silence…

"Ravens are my favourite bird," The green boy declares out the blue before he stands, puts his plate and cup in the sink then strolls out, whistling tunelessly. The empath thinks over his words, brow furrowed in confusion. Why would he say that…? She looks to the door then notices Robin bringing his newspaper up to hide his smirk and Cyborg looks desperately like he's trying not to laugh.

"What?" Raven demands and Cyborg sniggers then clears his throat and has a drink of something with too many E numbers.

"Dunno what you're talking about Raven…" He replies before he too walks out, his chuckles audible as he heads down the corridor.

"Robin?" Raven presses sternly and the Teen Titan leader looks at her, lowering his newspaper.

"I've got nothing to tell you," He assures her as seriously as he can before he chuckles and brings his newspaper back up as the only other rooms occupant scowls at him through it. The door slides open, revealing Starfire laden with bags, hovering a couple of feet off the ground.

"Friends! I have returned from the mall of shopping and have obtained more of the glorious mustard!" She calls happily.

"That's great Star," Robin returns.

"I saw Friend Beast Boy and Friend Cyborg outside and Beast Boy was suffering from the reddening of the cheeks and looked most flustered. Is he okay?" Starfire questions innocently and Robin nods, smiling.

"Don't worry Star, he's absolutely fine," He snickers… Raven scowls harder before mentally shrugging it off as the colour clashing outfit finally getting to the Boy Blunders head. She very deliberately ignores that Cyborg has no such issue.

"I think I'm going to meditate," She decides, their amusement and her apparent missing of something very important is REALLY beginning to bug her. As she heads to her room she pauses by it as a thought crosses her mind and she thinks.

"'Ravens are my favourite bird'…" She ponders. Wait a second… Beast Boy would not be so crude as to use bird as a reference to women… would he? WAIT A SECOND!… if that were true then that'd mean… 'Ravens'?… "No… that can't be right…" She protests aloud and she frowns. Could it? The lights in the corridor explode as that crosses her mind and she sighs. Best not to think about it or she'll end up shorting out the entire tower.

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><p><em>Starfires hard to get right... Meh! Hoped you liked it anyway. Review?<em>


	2. Chapter 2

_This is basically fluff, I don't usually write this kind of thing and it's not completely linked to the last part. I wasn't even planning to continue it but I figured it's Rae/BB and I might as well post. Enjoy.  
><em>

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><p>"Raven?" A familiar voice quipped softly, cautiously so as not to start the purple haired girl who sighed softly at him. She'd come up to the roof to clear her head and the source of her inner turmoil had to follow her up there.<p>

"Beast Boy I'm an empath. I can feel your nerves as soon as you stepped into the elevator," She told him, looking to the changeling who grinned sheepishly as he joined her.

"Right. My bad…" He chuckled, rubbing his neck nervously.

"… What's wrong?... What did you do?... If you've sneaked into my room and broken something-" Raven started.

"No! I haven't!" Beast Boy cried instantly, stepping back with raised hands in a placid gesture and he chuckled again. "Honest," He added, crossing his heart.

"Good… So what is wrong?" The cloaked titan asked, her feet touching the ground and she remained stood next to him, facing out across the sea yet looking at him. The amount of fear coming off of him, his anxiety, borderline terror, it was a churning mess.

"Well um… don't- don't kill me 'kay? Just hear me out," He stuttered and Raven pulled back her hood and turned to him, giving him her undivided attention.

"Okay. I'm listening… just don't pass out Beast Boy. You look like you're about to," She said, worrying creeping into her tone and the boy before her snickered weakly, twirling his thumbs, rubbing his neck, his arm, gnawing his lip, switching between each movement constantly… he's basically twitching.

"Right. Um well I was wondering- I mean it's cool if you don't wanna but I was thinkin' that maybe you wouldn't mind and it's okay if you don't but I just…" He rambles, his words tripping over each other. "Damn it! I can't even say it!" He groans in frustration and in an unusual display of affection Raven takes both his gloved hands in her own and gently feeds him some calm through the touch. She suspected that it had something to do with his, 'Ravens are my favourite bird' comment and she is quick to check around for any lights anywhere that might cause damage upon explosion. Silently she's hoping…

"You're alright Beast Boy… I'm not gonna send you to another dimension," She assured him and he sighed softly.

"There are worse things…" He mumbles, voice shaking with fear and Raven looked him in the eye and a long moment passed. "I was… wondering if you'd like to… go to the coffee shop… with me?... Y'know… to talk about things…?" Beast Boy stumbled out finally and something metal buckled nearby as soon as he'd finished speaking and Raven scowled at it a moment, she didn't think about the other things up here… stupid powers. The green boy felt his heart drop to his stomach. That couldn't be good. A minute that feels like a century passed them by. "Guess that's a no huh?" He mumbled finally and it hurt… a lot.

"Did I say no?" Raven questioned gently and his gaze lifted back to her eyes again.

"Huh?" He grunted somewhat stupidly.

"Did I say no?" The violet eyed girl repeated.

"Well not really… you didn't say anything!" Beast Boy pointed out and Raven gave him a look.

"That doesn't mean no either," She returned.

"… Well what does it mean?" Her companion pressed quietly and the half demon girl, still holding his hands looked down to them. Now she was nervous? She smiled slightly.

"I'd like that," She told him and Beast Boy would swear that his heart stopped, that he'd died and gone to Heaven or something because Raven just agreed… Whoa…

"Really?" He grinned goofily and she rolled her eyes slightly at him.

"Yes Beast Boy," She confirmed in a drone but she was unable to quite contain her smile, she didn't really want to, Beast Boy looked giddy.

"Wow… thank you Raven," He beamed sincerely.

"I should be thanking you," Raven replied and releasing one of his hands she held up the coin he'd given her at the End of the World, the lucky coin.

"You kept it…" The green boy murmured.

"Of course I did…" The empath smiled slightly before closing her hand around the coin. "…You gave it me," She added and swiftly, before Beast Boy can react she had kissed his cheek lightly and vanished, cloaked in her soul self and mutely he grins to herself then runs a hand through his hair. It true in all those sappy films and books he likes to tease when they say, 'it makes you feel lighter than air'. He takes a few steps backwards and chuckles before diving off the front of Titans tower and turning into his favourite bird. A raven, not the symbol of death but a sign of hope… the hope that maybe one day Raven will let him call her Rae, that she's laugh at one of his stupid jokes and that one day, just maybe, if he were to go down on one knee to her that she'd say yes.

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><p><em>So sappy... I MUST be ill. Anyway, hope all you fluff fans liked it. Review?<em>


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